Pacific Southwest Airlines

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For the commuter airline affiliate of USAirways, see PSA Airlines.
PSA logo from the 1980s
PSA logo from the 1980s

Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) (IATA: PS, ICAO: PSA, and Callsign: PSA) was an airline headquartered in San Diego, California. It is one of the four heritage airlines that form US Airways, the other airlines being America West Airlines, Piedmont Airlines and Allegheny Airlines. Prior to its merger, PSA was one of the first large discount airlines in the United States and is considered a precursor to Southwest Airlines. Its Boeing customer number was 14. Following the merger with USAir, the PSA name was given to Jetstream International Airlines in order to preserve the PSA name and trademarks.

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[edit] History

The airline was founded in 1949 with a leased Douglas DC-3 that flew one weekly round trip from San Diego to Oakland via Burbank. Reservations were initially taken from a World War II surplus latrine refitted as a ticket office. In 1951, PSA crossed the San Francisco Bay and began flying to San Francisco. In 1955, PSA purchased two Douglas DC-4 aircraft from Capital Airlines and painted boxes around the windows to make the planes resemble the more advanced Douglas DC-6.

During the 1960s, PSA operated Lockheed L-188 Electra aircraft on the San Diego-San Francisco route: these were replaced with Boeing 727-214 and Boeing 737-214s by the end of the decade. In the mid-1970s, PSA briefly operated Lockheed L-1011 aircraft before deeming them unprofitable and selling them. The L-1011-1 aircraft produced for PSA were unique in having lower deck seating.[1] PSA expanded its service to Sacramento, San Jose, Long Beach, and Ontario, California during this period, and by 1980 was operating a hub at Los Angeles International Airport.

After airline deregulation, California's major intrastate airlines (PSA, Air California (later rebranded AirCal), Western Airlines and United Airlines) became embroiled in intense airfare wars. PSA attempted to extend its route network beyond California with flights to Reno, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix. The airline also introduced automated ticketing and check-in machines at several major airports, and briefly operated flights to Mexico. When PSA's plan to buy out the assets of Dallas-Ft. Worth-based Braniff International Airways fell flat, the airline expanded its route network north to Washington, Oregon and Idaho. PSA used a new fleet of BAe 146 regional jets to serve smaller airports on the West Coast, such as Eureka, California and Concord, California. PSA held a contest, publicized in full-page newspaper ads, to name the fleet. The winning entry was Smiliner.

In 1986, Western and AirCal were purchased by out-of-state airlines (Delta Air Lines and American Airlines respectively). Some believe USAir was actually pursuing AirCal because of fleet commonality — (Boeing 737-300s) — but that American Airlines spoiled the deal and PSA was its second choice. Upon hearing that USAir was interested in AirCal, American Airlines aggressively courted the AirCal Board of Directors. It made more sense for American Airlines to purchase PSA due to fleet commonality, but American Airlines was determined not to concede market share. Therefore, many believe the American/AirCal deal was essentially an attempt to impede USAir's expansion. However, this plan did not work.

An hour after the AirCal deal was announced, PSA agreed to merge with USAir, which was completed in 1987. PSA's last flight took place on April 8, 1988. The PSA route network slowly disintegrated within USAir and was completely gone by 1994: most of the former airline's assets were scrapped or moved to USAir's hubs on the East Coast. PSA's operations base at San Diego International Airport was gutted and now serves as that airport's commuter terminal.

PSA 1953 Logo
PSA 1953 Logo

In the San Diego Aerospace Museum, there is a display showcasing PSA, the city's hometown airline.

PSA was one of the sponsors of the original The Dating Game TV show on ABC from 1965-73.

Following the 2005 merger of US Airways and America West, a US Airways Airbus A319 was repainted in PSA's livery as one of four heritage aircraft commemorating the airlines that merged to form the present-day US Airways. The aircraft was dedicated at San Diego International Airport's commuter terminal on March 30, 2006, and flew similar flight plans to the ones used on actual PSA flights, as another commemorative bonus.

[edit] Corporate culture

At the time, PSA was known for its sense of humor. Its slogan was "The World's Friendliest Airline," and its recognizable trademark was a smile painted on the nose of each plane and an accompanying ad campaign declaring "Catch Our Smile." Because of the major San Diego flight schedule and because of the discount fares, military personnel nicknamed PSA the "Poor Sailor's Airline." After PSA was bought by USAir, ex-PSA mechanics would occasionally paint smiles on USAir planes as a joke.[2]

During the seventies, PSA was also known for its brightly-colored and extremely short flight attendant uniforms. One PSA flight attendant, Marilyn Tritt, wrote a book about her tenure at the company titled Long Legs and Short Nights (ISBN 0-9649577-0-1).

Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher studied PSA extensively and used many of the airline's ideas to form the corporate culture at Southwest, and even on early flights used the same "Long Legs And Short Nights" theme for stewardesses on board typical Southwest Airlines flights.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

  • On September 25, 1978, PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727-200, on a Sacramento-Los Angeles-San Diego route, was on final approach to San Diego's Lindbergh Field when it collided with a Cessna 172 on a training flight. Both planes crashed in the city's North Park section, killing all 128 passengers and 7 crew members aboard the PSA jetliner, both occupants of the Cessna and 7 people on the ground. Nine others on the ground were injured and 22 homes were destroyed or damaged. The accident, with a death toll of 144, was the deadliest air disaster in San Diego County history as well as the deadliest California air disaster to date.
  • On December 7, 1987, PSA Flight 1771, a BAE-146, bound from Los Angeles International Airport to San Francisco International Airport, was cruising above the central California coast when it suddenly entered a high-speed nosedive and crashed on a cattle ranch near the small town of Cayucos. Investigations determined that a disgruntled USAir employee, Dave Burke, recently fired for theft, had armed himself and boarded the flight, which was carrying his former manager. After writing a suicide note on an air sickness bag, Burke shot his ex-manager, both pilots and then himself, causing the airplane to crash. All 43 aboard the ill-fated jetliner -- 38 passengers and 5 crew members -- perished.

[edit] Hijackings

There have been several attempted hijackings which resulted in no injuries and the surrender of the often lone hijacker. These incidents are not included. The following are notable hijackings because of fatalities or success in forcing the aircraft to fly to another country

  • On January 7, 1972, PSA 902, a Boeing 727-200 flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles was hijacked to Cuba. The captain negotiated release of the passengers in Los Angeles and the hijackers, armed with a shotgun and other arms, were taken to Cuba[3] with a fueling stop in Tampa where they released custody of the aircraft back to the captain. Three flight attendants and three off duty flight attendants were not released with the passengers and accompanied the flight to Cuba.[4]
  • On July 5, 1972, PSA 710, a Boeing 737-200 flight from Sacramento, California to San Francisco was hijacked with demands to fly to the Soviet Union. The plane was stormed resulting in the death of one passenger and the two hijackers. [5] One of the passengers of this flight, who was non-fatally shot in the back, was actor Victor Sen Yung, best known as Hop Sing from the Bonanza television series. There was one other passenger who was shot who survived.[6]

[edit] 1987 Cities Served

California

  • Sacramento
  • Oakland
  • San Francisco
  • Monterrey
  • Stockton
  • San Jose
  • Fresno
  • Burbank
  • Ontario
  • Orange County
  • Los Angeles
  • Long Beach
  • San Diego

Arizona

  • Phoenix
  • Tucson

Colorado

  • Steamboat Springs

New Mexico

  • Albuquerque

Nevada

  • Las Vegas
  • Reno

Oregon

  • Portland
  • Eugene
  • Bend Redmond
  • Medford

Washington

  • Bellingham
  • Seattle/Tacoma
  • Spokane
  • Pasco
  • Yakima

Mexico

  • Los Cabos

[edit] Historical fleet


[edit] References

  1. ^ US Airways | US Airways: A Heritage Story
  2. ^ Trinkle, Kevin. Smiles on US Airways. The PSA History Page. Retrieved on 2006-06-05.
  3. ^ ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 727 ?
  4. ^ Airliner Magazine, November, 2000
  5. ^ ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-200 San Francisco International Airport, CA (SFO)
  6. ^ Ada Evening News, July 6, 1972, p. 1

[edit] External links

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